I run a small, one man, one book (so far) publishing company. I’m trying to get my book and my brand “out there.” I’ve tried all the search engines for “Marketing Plan” and all I find is marketing strategy info. I even downloaded a worksheet titled “Writing a Marketing Plan” and it turned out to be the same old thing: Who is your competition? Who is your target market? What do you want to accomplish? etc.

I’m looking for an actual PLAN. Something concrete that I can do daily, weekly & monthly that will help me with my two objectives. I realize that all businesses are different so all plans are different. I’m just looking for some guidance on where to start and maybe a few suggestions from other small publishers.

So glad you asked this question and that Trudy gave this good answer. @markoetjens @trudy

http://www.marketing-mentor.com/toolbox/html/marketingplanbundle.html

Marketing Mentor has a plan that you can import in to your email that looks like what you want.

Great replies to your question.

I would add that one of the most important questions you really should ask is to whom you are marketing.  When I hired my first publicist, her first question was just that.  And, to be honest, I really had no clue.  And it was only by drilling down the type of client I was looking for, how old they are, gender, socioeconomic status, etc. was I able to design a targeted marketing plan that could attract this specific client. 

I encourage you to define your target client as the first step in any campaign because it really defines your mindset and your approach and makes the rest of the steps much easier.

If you have any interest, I talk about this in my book, “Beauty and the Business“.   Sorry for the shameless plug but it may actually have some value here. 

I hope that helps. 

@markoetjens Mark, What you have found and what you are getting here is good advice. Putting together a sound marketing plan always requires some foundational work in developing the strategy part. 

When you say you want a marketing plan it sounds like what you mean is you want to know what tactics to use for your particular situation. However, you won’t end up with a good plan unless you create the strategy first. Most of the companies I work with have tried to implement tactics before they have done the strategy development and they are always very frustrated.

If you want a DIY solution I would recommend software from Palo Alto Software called Sales and Marketing Pro. It costs around $180 and guides you through the process step-by-step and is pretty easy to use. If you want someone to help you through the process I would be happy to discuss your specific situation and see if I can help.

Best to you with whatever you decide.

You might say there are two parts of a marketing plan. The first is the target market, problems your clients have, outcomes you deliver with your product or service, etc. That’s the higher-level strategy. 

But then there’s the tactical plan.

This is the list of action items in your plan. I recommend making a separate action plan for each of your specific strategies i.e., Social Media/Blogging, Networking, E-zine, Speaking, etc. If you mix them all together, you have a very random plan with a lot of to do’s but not a sequential plan with clearly defined steps. 

So you might say a marketing action plan is like a recipe. It starts with the ingredients, then mixing and then cooking. These must be done in the right order or you don’t get the result you want. Also, for most steps in the action plan there are action items and communication pieces. 

Let me give an example.

A “Speaking Marketing Action Plan to Professional Groups”

Action – Develop talk and promo pieceCommunication – Speaker’s kit or section on website

Action – Call organizationsCommunication - Calling script

Action – Send package by mail or emailCommunication - Cover email/letter + speaker’s kit

Action – Follow-up callCommunication - Calling script

Action – Giving the talk itselfCommunication - Handouts, overheads

Action – Pitch at the end of talk to get biz cards for listCommunication - Script for pitch

You have to put all of these in the right order, and then develop the necessary materials and scripts and go into action. 

You can find specific marketing action plans like this in many books. In this case I’d look for a book on giving talks to promote a business. I’d look on Amazon and buy it and learn all the things that work and then put them into a plan as above. Then I’m ready for action. Test, evaluate, fine-tune, repeat. 

You really need 3 things to be successful with any marketing action plan. 

1. Knowledge of what to do to make this strategy work. 

2. A written step-by-step plan that is organized and follows the right sequence. 

3. The discipline to carry out the plan. 

Using this methodology I’ve developed my own plans that have generated 20 new clients for a one-year program in a period of six weeks. Now I just repeat that plan every year and generate most of my income for the year. I use several strategies such as my e-zine, teleclasses, etc. 

More ideas on marketing for Independent Professionals at my blog: http://actionplan.com/blog

Cheers, Robert Middleton